How the destruction of reproductive healthcare has become a measurable tool of demographic erasure.

GAZA CITY — Israel’s war has devastated Gaza’s reproductive health system; advocates describe it as a genocidal measure. In a crowded displacement shelter, Maysera al-Kafarna, a Palestinian woman, sorts through blue baby overalls brought for the child she was supposed to have. But her dreams of motherhood have been dashed.

After years of trying to conceive, al-Kafarna and her husband turned to in-vitro fertilisation (IVF). Their embryos were frozen at a fertility clinic, waiting for the war to end, but the clinic was attacked by Israeli occupation forces.

“We had four viable embryos stored there in the first months of the war. We were shocked to learn they had been destroyed when the clinic was attacked,” al-Kafarna told Al Jazeera.

“It was deeply painful. We felt like we had lost a part of ourselves. We were waiting for a chance to have our baby.”

Medical officials in Gaza say Israel has destroyed nine out of ten fertility clinics in the territory. Embryos that remain are still at risk, despite the ceasefire, due to fuel shortages and the lack of liquid nitrogen necessary to maintain their viability.

Rights advocates say Israel’s attacks on reproductive healthcare are a textbook implementation of genocidal policies, as defined by the United Nations. Last year, UN investigators concluded that Israeli attacks on fertility clinics and maternity wards were part of a systematic effort to destroy the Palestinian people.

The 1948 UN Genocide Convention lists “imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group” as one of five acts defined as genocidal. In September 2024, a UN Commission of Inquiry found that Israel had engaged in four of these five acts during its war on Gaza, including efforts to prevent births.

“Attacks on healthcare facilities, including those offering sexual and reproductive healthcare and services, have affected about 545,000 women and girls who are of reproductive age in Gaza,” the UN investigators wrote.

They specifically reviewed the Israeli attack on Al-Basma IVF Clinic in Gaza City in December 2023, which destroyed thousands of embryos, sperm samples, and other reproductive material.

“The commission found that the Israeli authorities knew that the medical centre was a fertility clinic and that they intended to destroy it,” the UN inquiry said.
“Therefore, the Commission concluded that the destruction of the Al-Basma IVF clinic was a measure intended to prevent births among Palestinians in Gaza.”

Protected Medical System, Systematically Targeted:

The Al-Basma IVF Clinic was clearly marked, registered, and known to Israeli authorities as a civilian medical facility. According to Reuters and UN investigators, it had no military function. Yet it was destroyed.

The UN Commission of Inquiry, chaired by former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, concluded in September 2024 that Israeli authorities knew the nature of the facility and intended to destroy it.

“The Commission found that the destruction of the Al-Basma IVF clinic was a measure intended to prevent births among Palestinians in Gaza,” the report stated.

This finding places the attack squarely under Article II(d) of the 1948 Genocide Convention, which defines genocide as including “imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.” The Commission confirmed Israel had engaged in four of the five prohibited genocidal acts during its war on Gaza.

Reproductive Healthcare Under Siege:

Beyond direct strikes, Israel’s blockade has devastated Gaza’s ability to sustain pregnancies and births. Fuel restrictions shut down incubators. Import bans blocked anaesthetics, hormones, liquid nitrogen, and obstetric equipment. Hospitals performed caesarean sections without pain relief. Women delivered babies in tents, classrooms, and rubble.

“Starvation, trauma, and untreated infection directly impair fertility,” Physicians for Human Rights–Israel reported.

“These outcomes were entirely foreseeable.”

UN investigators estimate 545,000 women and girls of reproductive age have been affected. Gaza’s Ministry of Health reports a 41 percent drop in births in the first half of 2025 compared with previous years.

“This is not collateral damage,” said Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

“It is the destruction of biological continuity.”

Delivering Under Bombardment:

Doctors recount scenes of medical collapse.

“Women arrived bleeding, malnourished, traumatised,” said Dr Ambereen Sleemi, briefing the UN.

“Newborns died because incubators had no electricity.”

Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, expectant mothers and maternity facilities are entitled to special protection. Under CEDAW and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, access to reproductive healthcare must be ensured even during conflict. Israel’s actions violate all three.

Fertility specialist Dr Abdel Nasser al-Kalhout remains determined:

“We hope that after the war ends, we can start again, restoring hope for people who lost their embryos and for the couples whose treatment began but couldn’t continue because of the war,” he told Al Jazeera.

Media Forensics: How The Story Was Minimised.

Despite overwhelming evidence, much Western media framed these attacks as generic “healthcare damage,” using passive language like “facilities caught in fighting” or “infrastructure affected” that obscured Israeli responsibility.

Media watchdog FAIR found that UN findings, including genocide determinations, were frequently buried or reframed as political controversy rather than legal evidence.

“When reproductive harm is stripped of agency and context, it becomes invisible,” FAIR wrote.

Journalist Owen Jones noted:

“Treating genocide findings as opinion rather than evidence makes journalism complicit in erasure.”

Legal And Human Rights Violations:

These attacks constitute violations under multiple international legal instruments:

• Genocide Convention (1948), Art. II(d): Preventing births within a group
• Fourth Geneva Convention (1949), Arts. 16 & 18: Protection of expectant mothers and hospitals
• Additional Protocol I (1977), Art. 12: Protection of medical units
• Rome Statute, Arts. 7 & 8: War crimes and crimes against humanity via destruction of civilian objects
• CEDAW & ICESCR: Guarantee access to maternal and reproductive healthcare even during conflict

Violations Matrix: Mapping Incidents To Legal Clauses:

A War On The Future:

Analysts describe Israel’s assault on Gaza as threefold: killing the living, dismantling infrastructure, and erasing the possibility of future generations.

“They are not just killing Palestinians. They are killing the possibility of Palestinians,” said the Gaza Women’s Health Network.

For couples like al-Kafarna’s, the loss is deeply personal.

“They didn’t just destroy a clinic,” she said.
“They destroyed our chance to become parents.”

Conclusion: Erasing The Future, Not Just Lives.

Israel’s assault on Gaza’s reproductive health infrastructure is not incidental collateral damage; it is systematic, deliberate, and strategic. From the destruction of fertility clinics like Al-Basma to the blockade-induced collapse of maternal and neonatal care, the pattern reveals a concerted effort to dismantle the biological and demographic future of Palestinians. The consequences are measurable: thousands of embryos destroyed, a 41 percent decline in births, and half a million women of reproductive age facing preventable maternal and reproductive health crises.

UN investigators, legal scholars, and human rights advocates converge on a stark conclusion: these acts constitute genocidal measures under Article II(d) of the 1948 Genocide Convention, alongside war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute. By targeting reproductive capacity, Israel’s actions transcend conventional warfare; they strike at the very continuity of the Palestinian people.

The human toll is unquantifiable in numbers alone. Couples like Maysera al-Kafarna have lost not just embryos, but the promise of parenthood, identity, and family continuity. Doctors testify to systemic collapse, delivering newborns under siege conditions with minimal resources, while global media frequently minimises or obscures the targeted nature of these attacks.

This systematic destruction of life, infrastructure, and future generations underscores a chilling reality: reproductive violence is being wielded as a weapon of demographic control. International law is clear, yet accountability remains absent. The world now faces a profound test: whether evidence of intentional reproductive harm will be acknowledged and acted upon, or whether it will join the long list of human rights abuses in Gaza that pass without consequence.

In Gaza, Israel’s war has not only killed but also erased futures, undermining the right to family, the right to life, and the continuity of an entire population. The attacks on fertility clinics, maternity wards, and reproductive infrastructure are not just medical or humanitarian tragedies; they are a deliberate assault on the very possibility of Palestinian survival. Justice, accountability, and international scrutiny are imperative; without them, the destruction of life in Gaza risks being compounded by the destruction of truth.